Family flee for their lives after arson attack

A FAMILY narrowly escaped death when fire spread to their house after vandals torched their car. Nadeem and Shazia Khan were asleep with their three young children, all under the age of seven, at their Wellington Street home when they were alerted by smoke alarms.

A FAMILY narrowly escaped death when fire spread to their house after vandals torched their car.

Nadeem and Shazia Khan were asleep with their three young children, all under the age of seven, at their Wellington Street home when they were alerted by smoke alarms.

Their BMW car was engulfed by flames after being deliberately set on fire and the blaze quickly spread to their house in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Fire crews rushed to the scene and the occupants were evacuated. No one was injured.

Mr Khan, aged 32, told the Observer that they feel lucky to be alive and he was so terrified by the attack that he has started sleeping downstairs to alert his family if the vandals return.

He said: "We were about to get up because it is Ramadhan. I looked out of my window and saw flames. It was really scary and we got the children out of bed and ran outside.

"It was frightening because if it had been another five or 10 minutes, it could have been fatal. We have a gas main outside and if the fire had spread to it, the consequences would have been devastating."

Following the fire, the rear of the building was boarded up, but the family have now returned to their home.

Mr Khan said: "We don’t want to go anywhere else and we won’t be pushed out, even though we are scared for our safety."

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said that an investigation had been launched.

She said that a 34-year-old man from Bury has been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and was bailed until 26 November.